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Monday, January 9, 2012

From Ricochet's Tool Box

I'm not quite sure sometimes if I'm more clever or cheap or lazy. Most likely it's a combination of these qualities that make me the crafter that I am. Allow me to elaborate, please. There is always a home improvement project going on at my house. Hence, we always have an abundance of blue painter's tape lying around. As you probably already know, the main use of painter's tape is to tape off areas that you don't want to get paint on. Also, the main quality of the blue tape is that it is low tack, and therefore easy to remove and doesn't leave a sticky residue behind. Because we have a lot of it lying around our home, I have been utitlizing it in various crafty projects. Here are some examples:

I used lots of blue tape in my Paper Weaving Tutorial. It reallyhelped to secure the weave and keep it nice and tight. Whenit was time to remove the tape, it left the paper undamaged.

I used blue tape in my Tudor Rose Tutorial to secure the leaves tothe petals. When I tried it with stick pins, the pins caught up on parts of my sewing machine and fell out when I was rotating the flower.

This is a photo of wallet I was working on a while back.I used tape to mark where I wanted to place the inside pockets.I also wrote the measurements on the tape.

When I buy a pattern, I unfold all the tissue and tape around theedges of all the pattern pieces. Then, I cut out the pieces. Thisreinforces each piece and makes it really easy to trace onto fabric.The blue-taped pattern pieces don't fit neatly in their original envelope,but usually I paperclip them all together an lay them on a shelf.I only take the time to do this with a pattern that I know I will use overand over again.

As you can see, blue tape is used all throughout my craft room.

The masking tape doesn't have to be blue, of course. When I was making The Envelope Wristlet Tutorial, I used some regular masking tape to help me mark where to place the magnetic clasp on the flap.

Because it has a higher tack than the blue tape, I used regular masking tapeto keep the edge of the flap clean and decoupage free. You can see the finished project here: Another Modge Podge Upcycle.

Ok maybe dumb question but once you tape your pieces together do you actually sew through the tape? Seems like the needle would get gummy. Thanks for the awesome tips, I'm totally taping patterns from here on out!~Andie

I use tape in my sewing all of the time to help sew-on velcro, which I find especially tricky with pins. As a newer sewist, it great way to mark seam allowance measurements across the length of the machine to help me keep seams straight!

To americanfeltandcraft:I sew through the blue tape all the time. I haven't noticed any gunky build up, but I think that is due to the nature of blue tape. It's not supposed to leave a residue. That said, one reason why I didn't address sewing through the tape in my blog post is that what works for me may not work for everyone. There are many brands of blue tape out there now, many models of sewing machines, and many types of sewers. I'd hate to lead someone astray. So ultimately I can't endorse sewing through blue tape. The example I gave in this post (sewing the leaves on the tudor rose) uses tape to hold the leaves in place and the stitching is marked with dotted lines. Thanks for commenting! Everyone has left such great tips in their comments so be sure to read them all.Best,Rikka J.

When I am sewing a project and using fabric that is difficult to discern the "wrong" side, I mark all of the cut out pieces with a piece of blue tape on the right side. Then when I am sewing it is much much easier to avoid mistakes that lead to ripping out seams!! I have also used blue tape to hold zippers in place.

i am always looking for tips that making sewing easier That is a brilliant idea, I have tried marking the wrong side of material and it very often rubs of with use, have tried putting pins on wrong side and invariably I either stick myself with them or they drop out, but using blue tape seems obvious Thankyou

I saw how one gal used the blue tape to duplicate a rtw garment, laying the tape down on the garment piece/section and creating a pattern of each piece. Eliminated the need to tear the original garment apart. Genius!

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